Electrical cooking apparatus



March 10, 1936. B. c. GRUENBERG ELECTRICAL COOKING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 AF MV INVENTOR m 77 5r r/Ma/ ATTORNEY IIIIII II March 10, 1936. B, c GRUENBERG 2,033,458

ELECTRICAL COOKING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 15, 1934 i 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 10, 1936 2,033,468

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRICAL COOKING APPARATUS Benjamin 0. Gruenberg, New York, N. Y.

Application January 13, 1934, Serial No. 706,508

2 Claims. (01. 21943) The Object of e p e e t v nt on is o p whereby one or both of two heating elements vide an electrical cooking apparatus in which may be employed, particularly for use with the the heating elements are contained within the structures of Fig. 9. cooking vessels, and in which the vessels are Fig. 9 is a plan view, partly in section, and

p d With electrical Current by the Operation somewhat schematic, showing a rotatable switch of the apparatus, and t e p S d to a Ot surfor controlling the flow of electric current through face a flame, s in e a ar yp 0f StOVe two coils in the utensil and the control enabling or cooking range, including electrical stoves. the flow in series, through one coil, or through It is contemplated that the cooking vessels in b th oils in parallel,

10 use with this apparatus shall be so constructed Fig, 10 is a, vertical section through the base 10 as to permit their use independently of the spearea of a cooking utensil showing the formacial range or tray, if desired, the electrical curtion thereof, rent being in t Case pp ough the Fig. 11 is a fragmentary horizontal section familiar flexible cord. through the utensil of the preceding figure.

A further object is to provide a vessel with Fig 12 i a perspective view, partly broken a s r Co o t degree of heat, W away, of a socket device for receiving the plugs the vessel is used independently of the special of th cookin tensil. range 0 ay herein pecified. Fig. 13 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of In other words, this invention provides: the socket member shown in Fig 12 and i oo n vessels operable a mple ni diately connected members of the cooking utensil. 20

(b) vessels operable in connection with the spe- Fig 14 i an enlarged detail view of the multicial range or tray; (0) vessels and a special p1ug range or tray so (JO-acting t a W in p Fig. 15 is a perspective view of a modified form juxtaposition the degree of heat generated withof k t b in the vessel may be n fl d by p v means Fig. 16 is a horizontal section on the line l6l 6, 25

carried by the tray; (:1) cooking vessels in which Fig, 13 the heat may be controlled by positive means Fi 17 is a fragmentary section on the line carried by the vessel. l'l-I'l, Fig, 15.

The invention Will be described With reference In the drawings, I indicates a, horizontal sup- 3() to the acco p y drawings in which: port which will generally be transportable and Fig. 1 is a fragmen a y p View Of a tray which may be in form of a tray, or a member pro- (the term t ay Covering a ab e DD vided with legs and having the characteristics of s member for heat-generating utensils) a range. In spaced relationship and carried by bodying a circuit, socket members and controls, member i, as, for example, by fornqjng receiving in accordance with the invention. apertures at spaced points, are a plurality of 35 Fig. 1a is a mod 0f the preceding figure socket members which project upwardly above aS the Socket membersthe supporting surface of member I. In the pres- Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation of the device em embodiment the Socket members 2 or 3, as

Shown in F the case may be, carry angularly bent bracket 40 Fig. 3 1s a vertical fragmentary section on the line 3 3 Fig 2 arms 4 which will be secured to the undersurface 40 of member I by bolts or by welding, as desired. inFlig lgs a rear elevation of the structure shown Each socket member is provided with three Fig 5 is a plan View of the contact plate shown to re ceive three plugs carried by the in preceding figure heating utensil. The general form of the base 45 Fig. 6 is a plan view f th movable Switch of the heating utensil is indicated in Fig. 10. arm employed in conjunction with the plate of the bottom wall 5 a Chamber 6 Whlch Figure receives a plurality of heating elements, as, for

Fig, '7 i diagrammatic i of h t l example, coils of resistance wire, the heating elemerit wiring for use with a two-plug connection ments being alike or relatively different and so for the house current socket, one plug being dual, connected to the plugs, and the latter so related as shown in Figures 10 and 14. to the socket member and to a switch control that Fig. 8 is a View similar to Figure '7 showing the ur t m y fl w u h a n l at n il, circuit of the preceding figure broken by spaced two coils in series, or two coils in parallel, furcontacts adapted to receive a switch member nishing different amounts of heat. 55

It will be noted by reference to Fig. 10, that the plugs are within the heating utensil, that is to say, the walls of the base of the utensil extend downwardly below the plugs and surround the same. By this means danger of short-circuiting or fouling of the contact elements through the spilling of material from the heating utensil or from some other source while the utensil is in place, is entirely avoided, and furthermore, the utensil may be. removed from member! and used in the usual manner-by plug connections with the heating coils, located at the side of the utensil, within the sleeve 1 of Fig. 10.

In the present embodiment of heating. utensil, the heating coils are two in number a coil Ar and a coil B03. One end of the coil is:connected to plug A and the opposite endis connected. to

plug B. One end of coil Ex is connected to plug C and the opposite end to plug B.

The utensil. is provided with lateral plugswithin.a surrounding sleeve. 1. When the. vessel is not provided with a control device. one; plug is multiple having a section 8 insulated from its companion section 9, the sections being connected as illustrated in Fig. 11'. vIn such case, the utensil receives maximum heat, both coils'being'operated in. parallel.

A diagram of the coils andplugs A, B, C of Fig. 1.1, is shown in Fig. '7... It will. be noted. that by flowing current from plug A to plug C, the coils will be in series for relatively low" heat. Flowing current from plug A to plug B, thus through one coil, will result. in medium heat, and flowing cur.- rent throughplugs A and C simultaneously to plug B as an outlet, the coils will be heated in parallel for high heat.

Means are. provided for controlling the heat range according to the above paragraph and individually for thesocket members 2'. Connected to member. 1' at H, Fig. l, is a plug or socket connection for the house current and from said connection pass feed wires 30, 34. Mounted on a suitable supporting area of member lare rotatable switch controls, one for each socket member 2. In Fig. I, the sockets of each socket member 2 have been lettered, each socket in accordancewith the plug which it receives, thus A, B, orC. Taking the right-hand lower socket member; of Fig. 1, as an example, the contact prong of socket A is connected by awire a to a branch wire a. connected directly with feed' Wire 30. The socket B is connected by-wire b with a connecting wire b in turn connected to a wire 3 I, leading to a rotary switch. control member 52; The prong of socket C is connected by-a wire'c to a connecting wire c leading to a wire 3:2 connected to the control l2. The control I2 comprises a fixed contact plate 2 9 having a plurality ofcontacts as follows: 39:1: connected with feed wire 30 and through: wires a, w with socket member A; 3l=x connected to wire 3| and thence through wiresb,.b. to socket member 13; contact szzr connected: by 'wire"-32:with Wires 0, to socket member 6;

Fixed contactplate 29: (Fig. has inoperative register therewitha switch arm 295v having thereon, contacts 26, 21,. and 28. The switch arm. is electrically connected to feed wire 34 and the arm ismounted'ona shaft 3.5-provided with a finger grip. by means ofwhich the shaft maybe rotated. Feed wire 34- is. in. electrical. connection with contacts 25 and 2.7... When.shaft.35 is turned to bring contact 2'! into. operative. register with contact 153m. of plate. 2a,, current, will. flow from wire 34 through. contact, 21,. thence to. wire 32, thence through connecting wires 0, 0 to socket member C, and thence through coil Ba: (Figs. 7 and 11), thence through coil Ax thence through socket connection A connecting wires a, a to return wire 39, and low heat of the cooking utensil will be produced because the coils Bx, Ax will be heated in series.

To produce an intermediate heating temperature in the cooking utensil, contact arm 29:12 is moved to bring contact 26 into register with contact 311:. Current will then flow from wire 34 tocontact 2'6, thence to contact 3hr through wire 3i and connecting wires b, N to socket member B thence through the resistance coil Ax through socket member Ato connecting wires a, a to the return wire 36. In such case, the coil Ax only will; be heated.

To produce high heat, the contact arm is turned until contact 21 is in register with contact 3M: and contact 28 bridges contacts 30m and 3220. In such case, the current will flow from wire 34 through contacts 21 and 3M, through connecting wires 2), b to socket member B, thence through. coils Ax, Bat in parallel, the return being through plug and socket members A, connecting wires a, a to return wire 30, through plug and socket members C to connecting wires 0, c thence to wire 32 to contact member 3230, thence to the bridge contact 28 carrying the current. to contact 3% and return wire 39;

The above description with regard to-the lower right-hand socket device and plugged-in cooking utensil willsufiice for the remaining similarly constructed controls and socket members, each two being co-related for individual control of a specific socket member.

In the form of socket type structure shown in Fig; 15, full clearance is given for the-upper movingportion of. the contact prong 26a: and threesimilar prongs 29am will be carried by the cookingutensil; in substitution of the plugs A, B, and C of Fig. 10.

In use of the range above illustrated and described, the current is automatically established by placing the cooking utensil in proper position relative to any of the socket members and the current is automatically discontinued on the removal of the utensil so that there is no waste of electricity through neglect to shut off the currentafter using. 1

When. the low heat is desired, it may conveniently be. securedby turning the control unit, whether it be mounted directly upon the vessel or upon the tray, or range-like support carrying, the socket members. Thus, when cooking has been completed, the control makes it possible to leave the utensil upon the tray, or range to keep thev contents warm by turning the control to low heat.

The device is, of course, adapted to receive accessory apparatus such as. motor-driven devicesv for mixing, grinding, etc.

If desired, the heating control may be carried by the vessel itself. In. Fig. 9 I have shown diagrammatically such a control. The ring-like member l3, Fig. 9 will be a part of the vessel, as, forexample, a ring .carried by sleeve 1 which would be circular instead of oval, the ringbeing of insulation material. The ring may be carried atany suitable point of the vessel.

The plug contacts of the vessel for connection with the usual flexible cord connection with the house current would be the usual positive and negative plugs, and dual plug shown in Fig. 14 would not be employed. 7

Carried by the ring are contact segments A,

B, C, the segments A being two in number, and spaced. C will be connected to one plug for the house current, which may be conveniently termed the outlet plug. A is connected to the second plug for the house current conveniently termed the inlet plug. In addition, there would be provided a supplementary contact a. Each contact of the ring-like carrier 13 would be connected to its corresponding points A, B, or C as in Fig. 8, and the contacts would be in turn connected to their respective coils at the corresponding points A, B, C, indicated in Fig. 11. The lead between contact member A and its coil Aac would be broken, however, as indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 8, the connection to be established by bridging contacts A and supplementary contact a of the ring-like carrier [3. Surrounding contact carrier I3 is a bridging ring M of insulation material carrying two spring bridge-switches l5, I520.

When ring 14 is turned to bridge contacts A a, current will flow through the area between the corresponding points of the arrangement shown in Fig. 8, heating the wire or coil between those points and producing low heat. When control member I4 is turned to bridge contacts A and B, coil Bx will be energized, producing medium heat. When a further rotational movement is given to member l4 and contacts a and C are bridged by means of IS and A and B by means of bridge I513, current will flow through Am and Ba: in parallel for the producing of high heat.

Various changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the elements comprising the embodiments illustrated in the drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention. In the use of the socket members 2, the wall of each socket may be indented at the line of reception of the prong 20 so that the prong may freely move inwardly without contact of its moving portion with the socket, and thus may be more effectively shaped than in the usual practice.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:-

1. In electric cooking apparatus, and in combination with a horizontal supporting member carrying a plurality of spaced service outlets, each outlet having three contact members, of a cooking utensil provided with two heating resistance units and with three contact members connected to said resistance units at the base of the utensil and adapted to be plugged into one of said service outlets, and also provided laterally with two plugs connected with said resistance units and adapted for electrical connection with a house current, one of said plugs being dual and comprising two mutually insulated contacts having leads to both of said resistance units.

2. Electric cooking apparatus comprising a cooking utensil provided with a plurality of resistance units adapted to be plugged into a house service outlet, and controlling means carried by the vessel for energizing said resistance units in series, singly, and in parallel, whereby the utensil may be given relatively low heat, and also selectively intermediate heat or high heat through energizing the same resistance units in both cases, the said controlling means comprising a plurality of relatively spaced contact members carried by the vessel, two contacts being inlets for house current, the third contact member being an outlet for house current, a fourth contact connected to said resistance units and a fifth being a bridging contact intermediate one of said resistance units and one of the first named contacts, and a rotary bridging member carried by the vessel having two bridge-switches adapted to engage said contacts.

BENJAMIN C. GRUENBERG. 

